In the border region between Hicesto Dracones and Hominibus, a region known as Interlocos, the rainy season was generally pretty severe. Not so much that it made it hard to live in, but enough that it required the people living there to take flooding into consideration each year. Still, it was a densely populated region due to an abundance of natural resources; mostly with Humans, Dragons, and Draconians.
Of course, other races lived there as well. Elves, Beastkin, Fae, Demons, and most other sentient races, but they were a relatively minor percentage of the populace of Interlocos. Combined, they totaled maybe ten to fifteen percent. Humans and Draconians made up most of the population, with dragons being about even with the remainder of the races, coming in at about fifteen-ish percent of the total population.
With humans making up about twenty-five percent of the region's populace, that meant that Draconians came in at a staggering forty-five percent of the population. Of course, that was just for this region. Other region's populations shifted depending on which major kingdom they were closest to, or countries they were bordered by.
Today was an uncharacteristically dry day for this time of the year. The vibrant blue and purple sky was clear of clouds, the sun shining as it approached the horizon causing the first hints of oranges, yellows, and reds to begin streaking out across the skyline as dusk began its approach.
A well-worn dirt road stretched between an old farming village and the only big city in this part of the region underneath that prismatic sky. For the village, and the others dotting the area, the city acted as their primary trading hub for anything they couldn't provide for themselves, so it was frequented regularly by many of the farmers in the area.
With that being the case, it wasn't out of place for the apparently middle-aged Draconian man to be on his way back to his village at this time. Sure, it was a bit later than he would have liked to be traveling home, but his visit this time wasn't just a trade run. He'd also had to go and meet with the local militia garrison to receive his official Certification of Retirement from the City Guard.
It was a long, ceremonial affair that honored his service with his brothers-in-arms telling tales of his heroics, as minor as they were, and giving speeches about his time in the Guard. It had ended with a rather lavish, by his standards, dinner with his comrades and the handing over of his Certificate of Retirement by his Regional Garrison Commander.
The thought occurred to him that today had, indeed, been perfect for such an event. No rain and not a cloud in the sky, with temperatures warm without being too hot for comfort. With the weather being so nice, he'd been taking his time walking back home and simply enjoying the weather while reminiscing about his time in the Guard.
Sure, it was a fairly pedantic career, but he had learned to take pride in it over the many years he had served. Most days were rather simple and didn't involve more than a couple of scuffles at a gate, or breaking up an argument in the street, but there had also been days where he'd been forced to spill blood in the name of keeping the people safe from danger.
In the end, though, it all boiled down to this single piece of parchment paper. Proof that he had served with honor and distinction and that he was now, officially, a Free Knight of the Land. No longer beholden to taking orders, it simply proved that he was an honorary noble and held the privilege of owning land. Well... That and a very reasonable retirement stipend that would be dispensed to him within the next decad, or ten days.
The point was... Well, to be honest; he wasn't sure what the point was. After serving for 300 years now, to the day in fact, he felt a bit lost. Unsure of what to do with himself. His wife waited happily for him at home, sure, but his farm was well maintained, and his kids were long-grown and living their own lives. He didn't really have any projects or hobbies that he felt compelled to pursue and his house was in good condition.
More than anything else, he just wished that he had some direction in life, now. Something he knew that he should be doing. Something that would bring a sense of purpose and meaning to him. Something... anything more than just wasting away his time until he grew too old to be of use to anyone anymore.
He was pulled from his thoughts by some odd sounds. It sounded like a couple of animals squabbling over something. Food most probably. Scanning his surroundings, more concerned about something dangerous being this close to the road than anything else, he found the source of the noise.
From what he could see, there was the body of a Draconian man... No, a boy, from the looks of it, lying unconscious in the grasses just left of the road. Fighting over the body was a pair of Lesser Earth Wolves. He wouldn't classify them as dangerous to him, only being of common rarity and possessing a minor bit of magic to gain some control over dirt and stone, but they were dangerous enough to the common folk. More importantly than that, he could feel the life force still dwelling in the unconscious Draconian boy. If he didn't intervene, they'd doubtlessly make a feast of the boy once they settled which one of them would get to have him.
Maybe there was some service left in his old blade yet.
Surging forward with well-practiced movements, his hand gripped his blade and pulled it free of its scabbard. The blade wasn't anything particularly grand, though it was nicer than the standard issue blade by quite a bit. It was something he'd saved up for and bought himself over the years.
The blade was as transparent as glass and seemed to have a crystalline quality to it. It made an intimidating warbling sound as it passed through the air, making short work of the two predators; each of their heads laying a few feet from their respective bodies.
A quick flick of his wrist was all it took to remove any gore and sinew that lingered on the blade before it slid back into its scabbard.
Hastily, he moved to kneel beside the boy so that he could examine him for any wounds. The boy was stark naked, no more than eighteen or twenty years old. He appeared to be scuffed up pretty good, as if he had taken quite the tumble and a rather wicked knot protruded from the back of his skull. There was also a good number of claw marks littered around his abdomen from the wolves squabbling.
"You're lucky that they were more interested in fighting each other than eating you. It'd be a shame to have to deliver your corpse to the garrison on today of all days." He mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else.
It was exactly at that moment he noticed something he'd never thought he'd see. A glowing, golden, translucent mark of the Primordial Dragon began to glow upon the boy's chest.
"By the Primordials..." He whispered in shock.
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"Celeste, I'm home! Get the door for me! I stumbled across a young Draconion boy on my way home; unconscious and under attack by some Lesser Earth Wolves! Help me get him to the bed and tended to!" Drova called out to his wife, tapping at the door with the tip of his boot. His voice was deep and gravelly naturally but currently held a note of seriousness that he often didn't possess while he was around his wife.
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A slurry of jumbled thoughts and memories floated around inside Atlas's head like the glitter inside of a snow globe after a child mercilessly shook the hell out of it. Flashes of memories, pain, strange emotions that he couldn't quite place, and thoughts that made little sense. It took him several minutes to focus enough to begin clearing the scrambled haze from his mind and start thinking clearly enough to even attempt to figure out what had happened.
The last thing he remembered was... Pain? Yes! That's right! His chest started hurting while he was taking a shower and then... Nothing. He couldn't remember anything after that. Well, not nothing, but just feelings. Profound emptiness for what seemed like a long, but indeterminate amount of time. After that, the sense that he was no longer alone, but also that something was expected of him. Some vague notion that he was supposed to do something, but he couldn't, for the life of him, understand what that could possibly be.
Finally, he opened his eyes as light from some unknown source pierced his closed eyelids. As they slid open, his vision suddenly and unexpectedly snapped into focus, rather than needing to slowly adjust to the brightness. It was... Odd?
What he saw was not what he was expecting... What was he expecting? His room? The bathroom? A hospital room? Pretty much any of those would have been within reason, but this? This wasn't it.
He was most certainly in a room in some house, near as he could tell. He was lying in a surprisingly soft and warm bed, covered by a sheet and a comforter that was covered in some simple, but elegant blue-patterned designs with gold edgework along the blue patterns. The comforter was otherwise black. It was incredibly soft, but he couldn't figure out what material it was made of. It wasn't cotton or silk, though.
The floor of the room was thick, well-cared-for hardwood in a medium dark tone and polished to an illustrious shine. The walls were mostly a soft, matte black that didn't reflect the natural lighting, causing the room to maintain a soft, comfortable level of lighting. What appeared to be dark bronze sconces with a crystal of some kind floating, like magic, just above the setting were mounted in each of the room's corners. The ceiling was a soft, medium grey that offset the black of the room nicely, and blue and gold trim that perfectly matched the colors of the comforter completed the decor of the room.
A five-tier dresser that appeared to be made of the same wood as the floor was settled against an adjacent wall and a heavy, wooden desk of the same material was placed against the opposing wall, matching chair included. The desk also had a standing sconce on it with another one of the odd, floating crystals just above its setting.
"What the hell?" He muttered in confusion as he slowly sat up, turning his head to look out of the window immediately next to him, on the wall that the bed he was in was pushed up against.
The only thing he could see out the window was long, flat fields with some sort of crop growing in them and natural rolling hills speckling the landscape further out into the distance.
His attention was grabbed, suddenly, when a gentle rapping sound from the open door to the room echoed into the room.
When his head snapped in that direction, what his eyes found shocked him into a stupor. His mouth hung agape, probably making him look pretty stupid, but that wasn't what was important!
The hulking mountain of a... Man? that stood in the doorway was nothing like anything or anyone, that he had ever seen! He couldn't be an inch under seven feet tall and just as wide as the doorway. Shoulders that could deflect bullets and biceps that caused his short-sleeved shirt to beg for mercy practically rippled before his very eyes. Yet, with all of his size, he didn't look bulky or slow. He was incredibly well-proportioned.
What really shocked him, though, were the scales. He had mostly human features, but the scales were the first thing that he noticed. Down his forearms, along the sides of his neck, and along his jawline, black, shimmering scales could be seen!
Then there was his eyes! They were draconic, just like in the pictures from his TTRPG creature manuals!
"You're awake. Good. Took quite the bump on the noggin yesterday. Had to carry you to my house to keep the wildlife from eating you." He said with a light chuckle as if anything that had just come out of his mouth made any sort of sense at all!
"Are you feeling alright, young one?" He said, as he slowly and calmly stepped toward the bed, taking the desk chair along the way to sit next to Atlas.
Atlas, like any sane person looking at a man... lizard... person? That could, most probably, grab one arm each and simply pull him apart like a Stretch Armstrong doll, did his best to scurry in any direction that led away from him.
Why, you might be wondering, was he scared of the guy asking if he was okay? Because he was looking at a half-man/half-dragon person who made strongmen look like average guys. And his teeth. His teeth were sharp in the same way predator's teeth were. Plus, he was still reeling from his thoughts being scrambled like an egg.
"Whoa, young one!" The man intoned with a kind-hearted chuckle. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Just checking on you. My name is Drova and I found you lying on the side of the road, unconscious." He said, doing his best to make his deep, gravelly voice sound calming instead of intimidating... With only limited success.
"Oh, Drova! You're scaring the poor thing! Why don't you go downstairs and put on a pot of tea while I check on him and answer any questions he has?" The melodic, soft voice of a woman floated into the room like music carried on the breeze.
The woman that appeared in the doorway was significantly smaller than Drova. Still, she had to be at least six feet tall, or better. Soft, under-emphasized curves gave her a mature look when combined with the modest, but beautifully simple dress she wore.
Like Drova, she had scales made of pure ivory at various locations on her arms, neck, and face; along with similar eyes.
She slowly, almost delicately moved into the room, gently swatting Drova on his shoulder to get him to go do what she had asked.
"Alright, alright. Guess I'm not exactly the best thing to see after just coming to in a stranger's home." He admitted with a sheepish smile.
As he wandered off and down the stairs, she took his place in the chair. "I'm sorry for him, dear. He wasn't trying to scare you. My name is Celeste. Can you tell me your name?" She asked in the exact same calming tone that a mother might use with a lost child.
While it didn't help his confusion, it did allow him to calm his mind enough to manage a response. "Atlas... My name is Atlas." He answered, a bit of defensiveness in his tone.
The look on Celeste's face didn't seem to mind his defensive attitude one bit. Instead, she offered him a bright smile that seemed to pull some of the tension right out of the air. "That's such a strong name, Atlas. I know you're confused about being here. Drova found you unconscious, being attacked by some Lesser Earth Wolves. He couldn't just let them kill a child, so he took care of them and brought you here." She explained softly. Her explanation flowed out as if she hadn't said anything strange at all.
Lesser Earth Wolves? Child? Wait... She's calling ME a child? I'm a grown-ass adult! And what the hell is a 'Lesser Earth Wolf'?
Apparently, the confusion was plain as day on his face, because her expression shifted to one of concern. "Do you remember what happened to you to end up off on the side of the road?" She asked carefully.
Atlas shook his head. "N-no. I last remember being in my house, taking a shower. I remember my chest starting to hurt like someone was stabbing icicles into it. After that, everything goes blank." Atlas skeptically explained.
Her expression took on a thoughtful expression before she nodded, seeming to come to some sort of conclusion. "That must have been when you were first marked." Her tone implied that whatever a 'mark' was is common knowledge.
The more she spoke, the less sense anything made! "Mark?" He asked simply, trying to keep calm, but also not wanting to make himself look overly strange... Hopefully.
"Yes, your mark." She said, pointing down toward his chest. It was then that he noticed that her fingernails were elongated and curved into a rather wicked-looking claw.
Following her pointing finger, though, he noticed a number of things. First, he could see part of what appeared to be a still-glowing tattoo on the center of his chest. He couldn't see all of it without a mirror, but... A dragon maybe? The next thing he noticed was that he was shirtless, which exposed the last thing he noticed. He had scales, as well! Almost exactly like Celeste and Drova's! Was his a bit thicker? They looked a bit thicker.
The utter shock and confusion on his face as he examined himself was impossible to hide, as made obvious by the soft laughing that came from Celeste. "You must be pretty special to get a mark like that one. Tell me, Atlas. Do you know what city you live in? I'd like to help you get back to your mom and dad." Celeste said gently, still talking to him like he was a child.
Was he missing something here? Well... Obviously, he was missing a lot here, but that's not what he meant! Why the hell is he being talked to like a lost child?!
Well, he was lost, but he wasn't a child! He had a feeling that this was going to be a very long, very confusing day...